Excerpt:
While Irish legislators prepare to pass civil partnership legislation, the country’s Catholic bishops conference has issued a last minute call for a halt to the plans. Failing that, they said, parliament must allow for “greater recognition of the proper autonomy of Churches and the right to social and civil freedom in religious matters.”
“This includes the right of individuals to the free exercise of conscience,” they said.
The planned legislation includes a provision to force civil marriage registrars to comply with requests from homosexual partners. Under the bill, a civil registrar who conscientiously refuses to carry out such a ceremony will face criminal prosecution, a possible fine and up to 6 months in prison. Similar penalties will be meted out for anyone refusing for reasons of conscience to rent meeting facilities for homosexual partnership ceremonies.
[…]In Britain and other jurisdictions where “gay marriage” or homosexual civil partnerships have been created, legal conflicts have immediately emerged over the rights of religious objectors. The UK has seen a flurry of cases in which Christians in many public roles have been silenced or sacked for refusing to accommodate the homosexualist ideologies.
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